Repository of Practices
Primary GCM Objectives
GCM Guiding Principles*
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Dates
2020 - Present
Type of practice
Policy (including law, public measure)
Geographic scope
Geographic Scope:
Global
Summary
Bereaved migrant families, who mourn over the death or disappearance of a loved one, face immense difficulties in accessing public services in their effort: (i) to learn about the fate and whereabouts of a missing or deceased relative, and understand the manner and cause of death (ii) to honour the dead and lay to rest the remains.
National responses to the pandemic have often failed to take into consideration the specific needs of bereaved migrant families and have raised additional legal and practical barriers. The Last Rights project spoke to migrants in different parts of the world (France, Greece, Germany, Italy, Mexico, South Africa, United States, Zimbabwe) and was able to gather some best practices to support access to services for migrants coping with death and bereavement. Bereaved families have the right to know about the fate and cause of death of a loved one.
Organizations
Main Implementing Organization(s)
Last Rights
Partner/Donor Organizations
Fund For Global Human Rights
Benefit and Impact
1. Access to information. Bereaved families have the right to know about the fate and cause of death of a loved one. This information is of relevance not only to their search for truth, justice and closure, but also to the protection of their own health; the medical history of a relative may be important for their own health and future psychological and medical problems.
(i) Access to public data (Covid-19 statistics): Although the pandemic has claimed thousands of lives, most States do not publish statistics on death- and transmission- rates of Covid-19 among migrant communities. This has exacerbated uncertainties and lingering questions among migrant communities. In Mexico, the authorities release on a daily basis full open data on Covid-19 cases, hospitalisations and deaths. In addition to tracking variables such as age, sex, location and co-morbidities, Mexico also includes information on nationality, migration status and country of departure. In addition, Mexico has been releasing weekly epidemiological reports on Covid-19 among migrants, including the total number of suspected and confirmed cases, countries of origin, hospitalisations and deaths. Although the official statistics do not account for the full extent of the death toll (given that Mexico has one of the lowest testing rates), the government has nonetheless taken an important step towards making official data fully available to the public, including migrants, in an open and downloadable format.
(ii) Access to information about precise cause of death: Information about the cause of death is often unavailable, especially in situations of unidentified remains. Many bereaved families never learn what happened to a dead or presumably dead relative, because the remains were never identified. The pandemic has created additional problems since there is a lack of identification-oriented guidelines, in other words guidelines on how to handle the body, conduct an autopsy, register and store post-mortem data etc. whilst averting the risk of contamination. In Mexico, since 2017, when the General Law on Disappearance was passed, the Mexican authorities have taken a number of steps to assist migrant families searching for a missing or deceased relative, including in situations of mass deaths. These include: the establishment of a National and Local Search Commission, the development of detailed forensic protocols regarding the treatment of identified and unidentified remains including autopsies, collection of post-mortem data for identification purposes, and guidelines in situations of mass management of bodies.
2. Access to health care. Bereaved migrants are at increased need of counselling and mental health care support to cope with bereavement as well as the strain of completing the necessary administrative procedures related to death management.
(i) Access to health care for asylum-seekers: Migrant health care schemes often fail to consider the particular needs of migrants.
(i) Access to public data (Covid-19 statistics): Although the pandemic has claimed thousands of lives, most States do not publish statistics on death- and transmission- rates of Covid-19 among migrant communities. This has exacerbated uncertainties and lingering questions among migrant communities. In Mexico, the authorities release on a daily basis full open data on Covid-19 cases, hospitalisations and deaths. In addition to tracking variables such as age, sex, location and co-morbidities, Mexico also includes information on nationality, migration status and country of departure. In addition, Mexico has been releasing weekly epidemiological reports on Covid-19 among migrants, including the total number of suspected and confirmed cases, countries of origin, hospitalisations and deaths. Although the official statistics do not account for the full extent of the death toll (given that Mexico has one of the lowest testing rates), the government has nonetheless taken an important step towards making official data fully available to the public, including migrants, in an open and downloadable format.
(ii) Access to information about precise cause of death: Information about the cause of death is often unavailable, especially in situations of unidentified remains. Many bereaved families never learn what happened to a dead or presumably dead relative, because the remains were never identified. The pandemic has created additional problems since there is a lack of identification-oriented guidelines, in other words guidelines on how to handle the body, conduct an autopsy, register and store post-mortem data etc. whilst averting the risk of contamination. In Mexico, since 2017, when the General Law on Disappearance was passed, the Mexican authorities have taken a number of steps to assist migrant families searching for a missing or deceased relative, including in situations of mass deaths. These include: the establishment of a National and Local Search Commission, the development of detailed forensic protocols regarding the treatment of identified and unidentified remains including autopsies, collection of post-mortem data for identification purposes, and guidelines in situations of mass management of bodies.
2. Access to health care. Bereaved migrants are at increased need of counselling and mental health care support to cope with bereavement as well as the strain of completing the necessary administrative procedures related to death management.
(i) Access to health care for asylum-seekers: Migrant health care schemes often fail to consider the particular needs of migrants.
Key Lessons
• National policies should take into consideration the particular needs of bereaved migrant families and the legal and practical challenges they face in accessing public services.
• Access to health encompasses not only access to medical treatment in a hospital setting; but also access to information about death; access to mental health care to cope with bereavement; and access to effective funeral services, as a means of protecting and promoting both the mental and physical health of the bereaved and the communities.
• Human rights principles and jurisprudence thereon and from the experiences of different communities (see, e.g. the Last Rights Extended Legal Statement and Commentary 30 January 2019). We have worked with and alongside the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other international, national and local agencies, in developing awareness of, and best practice in the treatment of the deceased and the bereaved.
• Access to health encompasses not only access to medical treatment in a hospital setting; but also access to information about death; access to mental health care to cope with bereavement; and access to effective funeral services, as a means of protecting and promoting both the mental and physical health of the bereaved and the communities.
• Human rights principles and jurisprudence thereon and from the experiences of different communities (see, e.g. the Last Rights Extended Legal Statement and Commentary 30 January 2019). We have worked with and alongside the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other international, national and local agencies, in developing awareness of, and best practice in the treatment of the deceased and the bereaved.
Recommendations(if the practice is to be replicated)
Last Rights recently (January 29th 2021) produced a report on the treatment of deceased and bereaved families “Every Body Counts”, which makes over 100 recommendations for the fair and dignified treatment of the deceased and bereaved which may be considered helpful in deliberations. These recommendations (in particular Recommendations 17 & 18, pp 149 – 151) include provisions for the dignified management of dead bodies, chains of custody of material evidence, and respect for the diverse range of cultural and religious funeral and mourning practices and rituals, during periods of pandemic emergency.
Innovation
Highlights:
The Last Rights Project was established in late 2015 in response to a shipwreck close to the island of Lesvos, which overwhelmed the capacity of the local morgue and island in managing death and bereavement. Last Rights advocates for the dignified treatment of missing and deceased migrants and for respect for the rights of the families left behind. The Last Rights project has a global perspective. This means that we try establish universal standards and work on an ad hoc basis with the different countries, to help translate these international standards into national/local standards. To this end, Last Rights has undertaken a number of actions over the past 4 years including:
• Adoption of the “Mytilini Declaration” (May 2018), the first ever document to codify a set of rights of migrants and obligations of states under international law. The Mytilini Declaration was drafted with the participation of approx. 60 experts from around the world including the UN Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial , summary or arbitrary executions.
• Advocacy before international and national stakeholders across the world to draw attention to the issue of bereavement. Such actions included:
- On 20 October 2017, Ms Jarvis spoke at the UN about migrant death and bereavement (see here, section Multimedia: http://www.lastrights.net/LR_resources/html/LR_docs.html)
- Last Rights provided submissions during the preparation of the Global Compact to draw attention to the issue of death, disappearance and bereavement (eventually addressed in Objective 8).
- Participation in conferences/publications/field trips to different countries to raise awareness.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, we have undertaken action to draw attention to the issue of bereavement especially among migrant families and to raise awareness about the need to include them in national and international Covid-19-health-related policies. On 24 March 2020 we issued our Covid-19 Pandemic statement: The Last Rights Project COVID-19 Pandemic Statement. On 8 April 2021 we brought together European and national stakeholders from different countries in an online event to exchange best practices and suggestions for further advocacy work in their respective countries.
We do not know the extent to which changes in laws or policies are the direct impact of our work, since we work with different stakeholders and in different countries in our effort to raise awareness (unless of course in cases where our work is explicitly cited. Such examples include UN Joint Open Letter, page 5, https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Migration/JointOpenLetterGlobalCompactMigration.PDF
The Last Rights Project was established in late 2015 in response to a shipwreck close to the island of Lesvos, which overwhelmed the capacity of the local morgue and island in managing death and bereavement. Last Rights advocates for the dignified treatment of missing and deceased migrants and for respect for the rights of the families left behind. The Last Rights project has a global perspective. This means that we try establish universal standards and work on an ad hoc basis with the different countries, to help translate these international standards into national/local standards. To this end, Last Rights has undertaken a number of actions over the past 4 years including:
• Adoption of the “Mytilini Declaration” (May 2018), the first ever document to codify a set of rights of migrants and obligations of states under international law. The Mytilini Declaration was drafted with the participation of approx. 60 experts from around the world including the UN Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial , summary or arbitrary executions.
• Advocacy before international and national stakeholders across the world to draw attention to the issue of bereavement. Such actions included:
- On 20 October 2017, Ms Jarvis spoke at the UN about migrant death and bereavement (see here, section Multimedia: http://www.lastrights.net/LR_resources/html/LR_docs.html)
- Last Rights provided submissions during the preparation of the Global Compact to draw attention to the issue of death, disappearance and bereavement (eventually addressed in Objective 8).
- Participation in conferences/publications/field trips to different countries to raise awareness.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, we have undertaken action to draw attention to the issue of bereavement especially among migrant families and to raise awareness about the need to include them in national and international Covid-19-health-related policies. On 24 March 2020 we issued our Covid-19 Pandemic statement: The Last Rights Project COVID-19 Pandemic Statement. On 8 April 2021 we brought together European and national stakeholders from different countries in an online event to exchange best practices and suggestions for further advocacy work in their respective countries.
We do not know the extent to which changes in laws or policies are the direct impact of our work, since we work with different stakeholders and in different countries in our effort to raise awareness (unless of course in cases where our work is explicitly cited. Such examples include UN Joint Open Letter, page 5, https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Migration/JointOpenLetterGlobalCompactMigration.PDF
Additional Resources
Date submitted:
04 February 2022
*References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).